CAORC-ACMS FACULTY DEVELOPMENT SEMINAR
Climate Change and Public Health: What does Climate Change Mean for the People of Mongolia?
Mongolia
Seminar Overview: "Climate Change and Public Health: What does Climate Change Mean for the People of Mongolia?"
To support community colleges and minority-serving institutions, CAORC offers fully-funded overseas seminars that help faculty and administrators gain the requisite first-hand experience needed to develop and improve international courses, curricula, and teaching materials.
This seminar, administered by CAORC in collaboration with its member center in Mongolia, the American Center for Mongolian Studies, funds participation in a two-week seminar in Mongolia focused on issues related to Climate Change and Public Health that will include stays in the urban capital Ulaanbaatar, the rural communities at Kharkhorin, the historic capital of the Mongol Empire, Erdene Zuu Monastery, the oldest Buddhist monastery in Mongolia, and a visit to Hustai National Park, home to the rare and endangered Przewalski’s horses. Mongolia, with its vast landscapes, shares similarities to rural parts of the United States and other countries, where limited infrastructure and a dispersed population that lives on the land must contend with a lack of access to health resources and a rapidly changing climate. Mongolia’s average temperatures had already risen more than 2°C and rainfall declined by 7% before 2015, leading to challenges for people in both rural and urban areas. This course will focus on how climate change is already impacting public health and life in both urban centers and rural communities in Mongolia.
Community colleges are at the forefront of training for professional careers in the health professions and fields associated with climate change. These topics also impact a wide range of issues in the social sciences and humanities through economic development, government and cultural change. Through site visits and meetings in Mongolia participants will be able to hear from local officials, health specialists, climate scientists and nomadic pastoralists, and gain a first-hand understanding of how climate change (hotter days, more wildfire, increased storms, colder winters, drought) is impacting the environment and threatening human wellbeing. We will explore how socio-economic conditions and access to resources impacts local responses, and how international cooperation can help overcome challenges. You’ll be able to connect the experiences of people in your own region with the climate and health issues facing this remote region and discuss how people around the globe can connect together to develop better understanding and shared solutions.
Participants will experience the wide diversity of Mongolia’s rich history, society, and culture and its relevance for the climate resilience of the United States. Round-trip travel, accommodations, in-country transportation, and meals will be provided for the seminar.
Seminar dates: July 26 - August 9, 2025*
*Dates listed are tentative program dates, and are not inclusive of travel. Dates may be adjusted slightly due to flight availability
Meet the ACMS Seminar Leader
Charles Krusekopf is a professor in the School of Business at Royal Roads University. He first worked in Mongolia in 1992 at the US Embassy, and later worked for the Soros Foundation and World Bank on economic development projects in the country. In 2001 he founded the American Center for Mongolian Studies and has helped develop and lead programs including the annual ACMS Mongolia Field School. Dr. Krusekopf has a PhD in Economics from the University of Washington, an MA in International Relations and China Studies from Johns Hopkins School of International Studies. He has served as a Fulbright Lecturer in Mongolia and has led numerous student and faculty programs in the country. He teaches across a range of fields including international trade and the global political economy, international business strategy, and environmental economics and policy, and writes regularly on Mongolia’s economic development and performance, Mongolia's renewable energy development and the role Mongolia can play in energy cooperation in Northeast Asia.
Eligibility
The program is open to full-time or part-time faculty and administrators at U.S. community colleges or minority-serving institutions. A directory of MSIs can be found at the Rutgers Center for Minority Serving Institutions. The program is open to faculty in all fields, at all academic ranks, and from any academic or administrative department.
CAORC and the U.S. Department of State do not require any vaccinations to participate in the Overseas Faculty Development Seminar program, however the host countries, overseas research centers, individual sites, and communities that are part of the OFDS program schedule may have their own requirements for vaccination. These requirements may change from the time of application to the time of travel.
Applicants must be U.S. citizens at the time of application and must hold a valid, current U.S. passport that does not expire within six months of the last date of the program.
Applicants may apply to more than one seminar. Each application will be reviewed individually.
Previous Overseas Faculty Development Seminar awardees are requested to observe a one-year waiting period before applying for another program. For example, a January 2025 participant would next be eligible to apply in January 2026, and participate in Summer 2026.
Program Expectations
As an outcome of the Overseas Faculty Development Seminar program, participants are required to develop and implement a project to increase internationalization on their campus. Details and examples of these projects will be shared with awardees during pre-departure orientation. Projects should be implemented within one year of the conclusion of the program, at which time participants will be asked to submit a project report and share curriculum and/or documentation of the project for inclusion on CAORC's Open Educational Resources site.
Application Process
Applications can be accessed via CAORC's SM Apply application portal. You must sign up for an account to access the seminar application. This will allow you to save and return to your application before submitting. Please save your login/password information for future applications.
In addition to providing basic personal and professional information, applicants are required to respond to the following essay questions (up to 500 words each):
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Discuss your background and experience, elucidating your personal interest in joining this Overseas Faculty Development Seminar, with a focus on the region and/or seminar theme. Provide details about your current engagement with these subjects in your teaching, research, campus activities, or community initiatives.
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Articulate how your participation in the seminar will contribute to your professional growth, particularly in enhancing your teaching, research methods, and/or contribution to global education on your campus.
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Outline a proposal for your post-seminar project, describing how participation in this seminar will directly impact your teaching, curriculum, and/or research. Specify the projects, courses, or activities you envision resulting from the seminar. Furthermore, discuss how your OFDS experience might be multiplied for the benefit of your students, colleagues, institution, and/or community.
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Share a specific occasion when you encountered attitudes, perspectives, values, or behaviors different from your own. Explain your response and reflect on what you learned about yourself and your attitudes from the experience.
In addition, applicants are required to:
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Upload a current cv/resume (maximum of 2 pages)
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Request a letter of support from a department chair, academic division head, or academic dean at your college or institution. You will be able to send a link to your recommender via the online grant portal, SM Apply, by entering their contact details, which will trigger the system into sending an automated email. Your recommender will then be able to upload their letter. Recommendation letters will be confidential in the system.In their letter, the recommender should address the following questions/points:
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Please tell us why you support the applicant’s participation in the CAORC faculty development seminar. From your perspective, how will they benefit professionally from the program?
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Please describe the applicant’s engagement with your institution’s internationalization efforts and how their participation in the seminar might benefit students, colleagues, and the broader campus community.
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Please discuss the applicant’s collegiality, teamwork, and professionalism. How have they demonstrated the ability to cooperate, work, and share with others to achieve goals and positive outcomes?
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It is advisable to enter your recommender's contact details into the recommendation letter section of the application as soon as possible (and click 'mark as complete') so that they have sufficient time to complete and upload their letter. The applicant is responsible for checking in with their recommender to ensure the letter is submitted by the recommender deadline. CAORC is not able to reach out to recommenders on behalf of the applicant.
Opening date for applications: July 10, 2024
Application deadline: December 2, 2024 at 5:00pm ET
Recommendation letter deadline: December 6, 2024 at 5:00pm ET
Notification of award decisions: January 31, 2025
If you have questions, please email: fellowships@caorc.org.
Funding for this program is provided to CAORC through a grant from the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs
